Louisville, Ky., is investing in AI advancement via an expanded operating budget for its IT agency, and is looking to hire AI-focused staff — namely, a chief AI officer.

The state’s most populous metropolitan area has been an early adopter of tech, being among the first to establish a data officer role, and likely the first to use drones for gunfire response. Now, the municipality with a metro population of more than 620,000 is among the cities adopting AI and appointing dedicated chief AI officers.

Funded by a $2 million expansion to their IT operating budget, officials issued a request for proposals (RFP) June 25, Director of Information Technology Chris Seidt said. It’s a joint effort between the mayor and MTS, Louisville metro government’s technology agency, to explore possible solutions to make the government more efficient and effective.

“We don’t have the largest budget of a lot of cities of our size, but we think that through this investment, we can identify ways to get leaner and meaner — and get better at what we do,” Seidt said.

The first phase of the RFP will involve a series of five to 10 pilots conducted over three to six months. MTS will measure those pilots’ impact and potentially use remaining funding to support large-scale rollouts of technology solutions.

Specifically, the goal is to leverage this investment to improve service delivery through pilots focused on several key areas, but with flexibility to explore others. The initial focus is on expanding the hours people can engage with government, speeding up the permitting and building process, and supporting public safety officials and first responders. This investment is specifically within MTS, but because the agency regularly supports others, its impact may be felt across Louisville metro government.

Louisville will be seeking those projects expected to offer high returns on investments in terms of service delivery improvements, Seidt underlined.

Longer-term contracts can sometimes create a barrier to entry in government procurement processes today, he said. For this project, MTS has reduced initial entry requirements so that smaller vendors and startup companies can work with Louisville government. Vendors can submit a proposal first, and if MTS decides to pursue that project, the agency can offer support through the onboarding process of the government contract requirements.

By fiscal year 2027, Seidt expects to have pilot results to share with the Louisville Metro Council. The city’s fiscal year begins July 1.

MTS plans to hire a chief AI officer by the end of September and a four-person AI team to support this work. The agency recently used AI to prepare the department for a budget hearing, leveraging it to predict the kinds of questions that might be asked during that hearing, Seidt said.

“There’s a lot for us to learn as a government, there’s a lot for our workforce to learn around AI, and there’s a lot of work that has to be done to integrate it into the systems we have in place,” Seidt said.

The leadership the city plans to establish here will be intended to help educate other metro departments about what is possible with AI. Data readiness and workforce readiness are also MTS priorities, and Seidt said he expects the agency’s data officer to work closely with the chief AI officer.

The organization’s understanding and governance of AI has grown in the last year, and Seidt said he envisions MTS to lead government-wide adoption over the next year.

MTS is not only working with other departments in Louisville, but also nationwide through the GovAI Coalition; Seidt said he plans to share lessons learned through these pilots with other coalition members.